A RARE PAIR OF GREENISH-YELLOW JADE RETICULATED POMANDERS

QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER INSCRIBED SEAL MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

A RARE PAIR OF GREENISH-YELLOW JADE RETICULATED POMANDERS
QIANLONG FOUR-CHARACTER INSCRIBED SEAL MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)
Each made in three sections in the form of a small cloth pouch, the sides carved and pierced with foliate dragons confronted on a shou character medallion below the narrow flutes of the gathered neck which are continued on the sides of the rectangular cover, the inside of the cover and the sides of the neck pierced for stringing, the four-character mark inscribed in a line on the interior of the neck
3½ in. (8.9 cm.) long (2)

Literature and exhibited

Lot Essay

A nearly identical single example in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in the Catalogue of the Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Costume Accessories, Taipei, 1986, p. 249, no. 232. See, also, an example from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Cheng Te-k'un, illustrated by J.C.Y. Watt, Chinese Jades from Han to Ch'ing, The Asia Society, New York, 1980, p. 224, no. 228. Another example, formerly in the collection of E.T. Chow, was included in the 70th Anniversary Exhibition of Post-Archaic Chinese Jades, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1995, p. 45, no. 52.

As early as the Tang dynasty, small pouches holding various hunting paraphernalia were hung from the belts of hunters. The Manchus also used small pouches for similar purposes, but after settling in China and pursuing a more leisurely life, the pouches became smaller and were used to hold aromatic herbs. These jade 'aromatic pouches' are based on contemporaty Qing dynasty silk examples. For further discussion of this form, and an illustration of a number of embroidered silk, as well as deer skin examples, dating from the Qing period, see the exhibition catalogue, G. Wong and E.K. Goh (eds.), Imperial Life in the Qing Dynasty - Treasures from the Shenyang Palace Museum, China, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1989, pp. 98-9.